MM

Seriously?

You missed the point I was making. Read it again and think to yourself "Do I come from an island kingdom?"

No less boring than the knee jerk chiming in of a certain type (or nationality) of poster whenever the subject of a non island kingdom sport comes up. Reeks of a serious inferiority complex Lol Lol as they say.

I went to Dublin for St Patrick's Day in 2001, and they cancelled the celebrations!

Butch, read the part of the OP where he says he merely inquired about a pick up from the airport. There is nothing in there that says he had been assured that they knew his ultimate destination. It looks to me like the Mr. T arrangement was to go from the airport to Pattaya, and it was only when the driver arrived that the "ultimate destination" was divulged. I'd be interested to know if the OP actually told Mr. T or the dispatcher where he specifically wanted to go. From what I have seen posted, that was not until the OP was picked up by the driver.

To the OP, if you choose to do this, send the information to Mr. T's email. Mr. T's PM feature does not work.

There you go. If the guys on here don't know it from their experience of Pattaya central, it's not true. After all, this is pattayatalk. I hope you're kidding or just trying to get out from under being wrong, because the alternative is frightening.

So the claim has morphed from "most Thais" to "average Thais", and now you've taken it to Thais working in the few square kilometers in the center of Pattaya.

You said this before... many responded that Thais pay as much or more than "falang rate"...more than most of us would even consider reasonable or worthwhile. Nobody said anything about "average Thais". It is if you say "average" Thais, I'm sure. However, for a peek at an average Thai and what he would pay, my (ex) gf was negotiating a LT for her brother, a construction worker making less than 300b/day, at a shitty karaoke in a small town in Ubon. The girl was young, Laotian, and probably right up his alley. They wanted 300b bar fine, 350b for the room, and 1500b for long time. That equated to about a week's salary for him. I could have done at least as well getting him laid in Pattaya. There are 300b ST brothels around. I think VicVegas might know of one in Rayong or Sattahip...but it's really short time, measured in minutes, occurs on site in a dump of a room, and does the trick at getting the guy off. Moving up the scale in time, looks, comforts, atmosphere, will cost them too...not far off from what we would pay, if we could afford it.

What a ham! Where's his bed?

Agreed, Paul.

I haven't been able to do it yet

I'd say you just made up for it with this post.

Er, that's pattaya_mad, not PattayaPete up there.

LOL. Great string of questions and outcomes there, cappy. That's pretty much the sum of my thinking. It's like you took it right out of my head. On the OP, I've already made my feelings known about this in the thread. Hearing them speak poor or non-existent English, or listening to their Thai (and possibly learning a few new words or phrases) is an easy choice for me. I do not consider it rude at all. I consider this my home now, and attempt to fit myself into the culture and language as best I can.

I have to say, I've lived here longer than lovedog, and I don't give a shit what language the girls talk in. It would never occur to me to ask them to switch to English, especially considering that the majority of Thai girls I have encountered have basic English skills, and I would have to work twice as hard to understand them and figure out what they were trying to say, than if I just let them go on in Thai and picked up what I could. And, as joekicker said, once you figure out what they are talking about, it's just not that interesting either. The troll comments were made in jest, I'm sure, but the topic is rather ludicrous from the point of view of most expats who have made some effort to learn the language and customs of the country in which they reside. Apparently that does not include Shilo.

Obviously they have been put up to it by Rush Limbaugh

I think after your last night at Windmill, you may have spent a bit more than average

I was a little surprised by the number of karaokes reported having been raided (50). No singing? Well, then I'm not even interested.

It was on my todo list, but now I'll wait for things to settle down.

Now, in the past few weeks, they've become bolder, and are starting to congregate at the railing outside Hot Tuna 4 bar on WS, listening to the live band, but not buying drinks at the bar. A few days after this was taken, the sidewalk side of the railing was packed with Russians, and in the street was a group of about 8 Indian guys dancing with each other to the music. If they want these people to go away, the bar should pass around a tip bowl for the band. They'll run like the wind.

Sounds great!

I do reserve that right, yes. Now, stop thread fucking.

Where'd you get that idea?

I was at the Home Run Bar & Grill in BKK, owned by a fellow BM, and noticed that the bill had VAT + Service Charge added. I inquired of the manager (another BM), if the service charge went to the staff, and he explained it did, but in a rather convoluted allotment scheme. Still, I was satisfied that the establishment was not keeping the service charge as a hidden price increase. I wonder how many other businesses to that?